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»218-791-7596
»RobertBenda@gmail.com
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»Apologies
if the posts seem brief or abrupt. They're written at the end of
what is typically a ten hour work day.
»He
is not a
photographer but he does like to take photos. Click them to see
larger versions.
»All
songs are linked to Amazom.com so you can hear a preview of each song
if desired.
»Updates
are usually posted by Sunday morning, 9am.
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When: Friday, June
27th, 2008
Where: Grand Forks Ramada Inn
1st Dance: " At
Last" by Etta James
Father/Bride dance: " My
Wish" by Rascal Flats
To
start, Andrea had picked out songs for each wedding party couple to be
introduced into the room and it went better than I could've imagined (music here).
Each song was picked for a specific reason:Billy Idol's "White Wedding"
for the couple the bride hopes will get married (but we're guessing the
bridesmaid's boyfriend would object); Carrie Underwood's "Last Name"
for the pair who had never met. Everyone had a blast with it.
Next
up, Tony, best man and groom's brother (whose wedding I also DJ'ed),
wasn't too excited about the speech so I wrote the toast and put it on
cue cards for him (true).
Even better was how well he did. His 30 second speech got a ton of
laughs for his delivery - almost as if we'd rehearsed it. I've never
seen anything like it. (that's me holding the cue cards - Yeah! I
actually made it into a photo!)
I had a scary moment with the
father/bride dance: during the first dance song I discovered the song
for her dad wasn't working (no idea why, it had earlier). I managed to
get my backup laptop up and ready with only about ten seconds of dead
silence but my blood pressure was through the roof. This is exactly why
I double check everything and keep backups.
In attendance were
two couples I've worked for before:
Left: Melissa &
Tony Eickenbrock (best man);
Right: Jenna &
Brooks Johnson (and daughter).
 
Left: Andy &
Tony's dad and his change of clothes.
Right: Andrea's pal
hams it up during the dollar dance.
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What they said:
"I
just want to say THANKS THANKS THANKS SO MUCH you did such an amazing
job with the wedding and the slide show! So many people have come to me
and asked for your name, so they can use you for a reference!!! You did
such an awesome job we could not be more happy."
I've
seen Greg & Ali and their friends in action at a couple of
Christmas parties and have looked forward to this wedding for a while.
The highlight of the night had to be Dennis Blackmon, father of the
bride getting up to sing Van Morrison's "Gloria." Since I can't resist,
you can hear him though trust me when I say the recording doesn't do
his live performace justice (click to listen or just right click and
download it here)
 
Both
Ali & Greg have sons, Brandon and Mason, who they wanted to have a
dance with, and John Lennon was a darn good choice. The favors were
heart-shaped cookie cutters. Center-pieces were large candles imprinted
with a photo of the couple.
 
Those
both came out well, but very impressive was the guest book: an actual
book printed with photos of the couple and guests signed the margins.
The photographer put them onto it (or check sites like
SelfPublishing.com) and I liked it as well as anything I've seen.
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To anyone who has ever not danced
at a wedding (we can't be friends), I give you Elaine, the groom's
mother. The best man, Mark, introduced a song for her, saying she once
woke he and the groom up at 3 am by cranking the music up too loud:
"Thunderstuck" by AC/DC. As soon as we started the music she came
running out onto the floor.
This
was one of those small town weddings where everyone knows everyone...
except for a certain single young lady and a single young man the bride
and groom clumsily tried to introduce by switching partners during a
slow song. Unfortunately she's moving for a teaching job so true love
will have to wait.
I was going nuts during the Electric Slide.
One of the attendants kept missing a step and pulling everybody else
off. I tried to show her, but no good...
I did get one new item.
I've known about this game for a while but haven't had an opportunity
to do it. Basically, you bring up some people (in this case, one person
from each table), have a row of chairs for them, and send them back out
into the audience to find random objects like a woman's left shoe to
bring back. There are fewer chairs than participants each time and you
slowly eliminate them until you have a winner (a 10-year old who got a
cash prize). Its fun and goofy and woke up the guests after dinner
rather nicely.
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When: June 7th, 2008
Where: Moorhead Marriot
1st
Dance: "Making Memories" by Keith Urban
What they said: "GREAT
job at the wedding. We got a lot of compliments! We are so happy you
were able to be at the wedding. I could not believe all the horrible
dancing, including myself. You must just shake your head most nights!"
 Sweet
molasses, I'm tired. Most of my receptions are about seven hours total,
with four hours of dancing, but tonight's reception was 3:30pm to
12:45am. That's just over 9 hours. The dance lasted five and a half
hours. If you're wondering, that's plenty of time to drink two full
pitchers of water by yourself and to play 98 songs.
This
couple was at the Tillisch wedding I DJ'ed in 2006. They're pretty laid
back - no dollar dance, no bouquet toss, no song list (just NO chicken
dance or 'I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock N' Roll').
No wedding cake. Cheesecakes were already on each table.
Framed photos of the couple were out front to sign instead of a regular
guest book.
I projected a banner with their names and their date during the
social
and dinner.
I
was responsible for the video slide show, but Melinda had already
scanned, labeled, and ordered the pictures so it was a breeze, maybe an
hour of work.
My
favorite idea was the candy table. Yep. A table filled with boxes of
candy. Little bags let guests fill up and bring them back to their
tables since there was almost two hours from guest arrival until dinner
service. The wax lips were long gone by the time the bride and groom
arrived though we (obviously) managed to find one for Melinda.
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